


Tough day

by von_gikkingen



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Nevarro, episode 3 aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22050112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/von_gikkingen/pseuds/von_gikkingen
Summary: His recall of the last hour or so is none too clear. He’s not sure what route he took walking away from the building the Imperials were using as their local headquarters. Or how many dead troopers he had to walk by on his way out...“I heard there has been some spectacular violence in your part of town,” she says, coming closer and taking his hands. It’s only then that he realizes just how badly they’re shaking. “I was worried.”“No, you weren’t," he replies tiredly.“No,” she admits, her usual smile breaking through the unreadable expression on her face, “I wasn't. It's not like I can afford to get into the habit. Being worried about you sounds like it'd be a full-time job. You are the guy that threw in his lot with the imps long after they so clearly became the losing side," she reminds him. The expression he answers that with only succeeds in making her more amused.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Tough day

“Hi, honey. How was work?”

The sound of her voice, as tinted with amusement as ever, nearly makes him flinch. It has nothing to do with her waiting for him in an apartment he doesn't remember giving her keys to and everything to do with what he just walked away from.

His recall of the last hour or so is none too clear. He’s not sure what route he took walking away from the building the Imperials were using as their local headquarters. Or how many dead troopers he had to walk by on his way out...

“Tough day, huh?”

He forces himself to look at her, the beautiful local that seems to have no qualms about associating with the likes of him. “I heard there has been some spectacular violence in your part of town,” she says, coming closer and taking his hands. It’s only then that he realizes just how badly they’re shaking. “I was worried.”

“No, you weren’t," he replies tiredly.

“No,” she admits, her usual smile breaking through the unreadable expression on her face, “I wasn't. It's not like I can afford to get into the habit. Being worried about you sounds like it'd be a full-time job. You _are_ the guy that threw in his lot with the imps long after they so clearly became the losing side," she reminds him. The expression he answers _that_ with only succeeds in making her more amused. "When you have a bad idea you _really_ go for it, don’t you, Doc?”

Clearly a rhetorical question and so Pershing doesn’t bother to answer. Only looks at her. The last person he ever expected to become a part of his life. The best bad idea he ever had for that matter… 

He knew what kind of world this was the moment he arrived. He had very clear ideas on what the locals would be like, too. The prospect of getting involved with one of them would be laughable to him only weeks ago. But that changed pretty fast once _she_ walked into his life.

He was yet to figure out what made her want to stay. What made her say “If ever I saw a man that was all work and no play,” the moment she was done running her eyes over him. What made her tell him that he can finish his drink, but he better be quick about it because she's leaving soon and he’ll be leaving with her. And no, he didn’t really have a say in the matter. She didn’t bother to ask him his name until the next morning...

And now here they were and he was just now realizing that somewhere along the way she became more than the pleasant momentary distraction he imagined she would be.

“So how bad is it? I’m assuming not _all_ of your imp buddies are dead. I mean… haven’t seen any people celebrating in the streets…” she says, trying but ultimately failing to suppress a grin. She grows serious almost immediately, though. “I think this is where you tell me what happened.”

“I don’t think this is that kind of a relationship,” he replies. He’s not trying to be hurtful – merely stating a fact. One that has never been a secret to either of them.

“It's not. But whatever happened today," she says, her gaze darting downward to his still far from steady hands, "you _need_ to talk about it. And... do you have anyone else to listen?”

Her voice grows soft then, making the words far less cruel than they could have been. It’s not her fault that it’s true. That he doesn’t have anything besides his work. Doesn’t have anyone – no one but this perfect example of a Nevarro girl, wild and rough around the edges and fiercely alive.

That hardly makes her someone who can be trusted with secrets. He knows that.

He begins telling her all the same...

“And this thing was…?” she says once he’s done, a small frown settling over her face.

“It was _a child_ ,” he says, trying not to think too hard about the self-disgust he can hear in his voice. “They brought me a subject that was a harmless, innocent child, not even old enough to speak. And I did what I always do. I didn’t ask any questions.”

“Okay, Doc. You’re having one hell of a day,” she interrupts before he can get much further. “That probably accounts for it.”

“For what?”

“Focusing on all the wrong details,” she says, giving him a smile he can’t quite interpret. “I mean _I_ wouldn’t get between a Mandalorian and whatever he decided he wanted. And _I_ grew up out in the badlands, where it’s just lava and monsters,” she adds meaningfully.

“Don't try to make it into some kind of...”

"It was every kind of brave," she says, clearly not interested in his opinion on the subject.

"I wasn't trying to..."

“No, I know. You weren’t thinking. You don’t have time enough to think in a situation like that. You just _act_.”

She says it as though that was the subject closed. And perhaps it was. Something about what she said - about _how_ she said it - made him feel as though she was the one that was a far better judge of his actions in the Imperial headquarters today. 

If he ever needed proof that confining in her was a mistake this is it. The way she’s looking at him right now. All she sees is someone who’s immediate reaction to outbreak of violence is to shield an innocent creature from the attacker. Beg for its life without ever even considering begging for his own...

“So here’s what’s gonna happen,” she says after letting a few seconds pass in silence. And he knows he needs to stop her, because whatever she’s going to say next is going to change everything.

He leans forward to kiss her. And though he gives her no warning she still responds as enthusiastically as ever. “You know I love it when you tell me what to do,” he says a few breathless seconds later.

“You know I love it when you listen,” she replies, not missing a beat. Slipping out of his arms the moment he tries to silence her with his lips again. “And you _really_ need to listen to me right now. Because I don’t think you can go back there and act like today didn’t happen.”

“What are you saying?” he frowns.

“I’m saying we’re gonna make the imps think you’re dead before they have the chance to decide that’s exactly what they want you to be.”

That leaves him only slightly less confused than he was before. She can clearly read as much in his face.

“Look, it’s not that complicated. Not if you ask yourself the right questions. Like _what does your boss do to people that outlived their usefulness?_ and _do you want to live?_ ”

He opens his mouth to answer before finding he doesn’t quite know what to say to that. He just nods, feeling very tired all of a sudden. Feeling grateful for the way she’s taking charge of the situation. "Good," she says only, taking off her rugged cloak and putting it around his shoulders. "Lose the glasses, we both know they're just an affectation. And come on. We need to move it. They'll be done cleaning up the mess the Mandalorians left around the spaceport by now. Lucky for you a whole bunch of random bystanders got hurt. There goes a convenient explanation for your mysterious disappearance - on the off chance your boss doesn't just write you out as one more victim of that rogue bounty hunter even if there's no body to confirm it."

“Why are you doing this? Helping me?” he asks even as he offers no resistance when she tugs at his arm to make him follow her out the door.

“I happen to prefer you alive, Doc,” she says only. He nods as though that made perfect sense. The truth is arguing with the only person on Nevarro that cares whether he lives or dies doesn’t feel like a good idea. Besides – he wouldn’t want her to change her mind.

“What?” she sighs once they're out on the street, making him realize he might have given her one sideways glance too many.

“Thank you.”

“You know how to thank me,” she says, her smile immediately turning suggestive. “And trust me, we’ll have plenty of time for that. Not much else to do out in the wilderness.”

“What is it like? Nevarro?” he asks, finding he prefers talking to the a little too meaningful silence between them. “The real Nevarro, outside the city limits.”

“Mostly lava,” she shrugs. “People who aren’t used to it like to say things like _raw natural beauty_. Up until the moment they see their first overgrown example of local fauna. Next thing you know they’re in a real hurry to get the hell off this place.”

“So... when you say _overgrown..._ ” he starts, not sure he likes her dismissive tone.

She just chuckles. “Local monsters are the least of our worries. Oh come on,” she says when he meets her eyes, wondering what could she possibly mean by that. “We both know what this is. Barely a relationship. Now, I’m not sure what the next step should be but… Yeah, riding off into the sunset together isn’t it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. For all we know we might have a good thing here,” she says, coming to a stop beside a speeder she left hidden in the shadows of a nearby alley. “Now we get to find out. Whether we like it or not." 

“While trying to survive monsters,” he adds for good measure, surprising himself by how well he manages to match her light, amused tone.

“Well... No one ever said relationships were easy,” she grins.

**Author's Note:**

> kinda suspected I'll be writing more Mandalorian fics sooner rather than later... as for picking this extremely minor character to write one around... yeah, no clue where all this came from...  
> but whatever - we all saw him being genuinely protective over that precious lil space child... makes it pretty easy to want him to be alive and well somewhere...


End file.
